Categories
Active Adult Living

We All Have Possibilities

More Possibilities in Retirement

We all have possibilities that we don’t even know we have. We can do things we never dreamed we could do.

In middle age many of us get into ruts, doing the same things over and over while giving up some things along the way that we used to love to do.

Retirement presents the next phase of life’s possibilities for us. It’s our job to discover them. It may be something you have always dreamed of doing, but it could be something you never dreamed of doing.

Senior games and athletics has given me a taste of that. When I began walking at our senior center, I had never even heard of race walking, but now I compete at National Competitions. I used to run track in high school and was sure those glory days were over, but track competitions now are just as thrilling.

In our mind we grow into thinking we are limited as the list of things we will never do again grows every year. But many opportunities are there for us that we don’t seem to consider because of our age and other factors.

I have seen older athletes that really surprised me at how good they were and making me feel a little guilty that I prejudged them by their age and appearance. So it’s not a good idea to limit what other people can do either!

There are many example of people who have done wonderful things later in life. We shouldn’t let our thinking limit us, especially when we have the time to try something new and exciting.

Sometimes it takes a little courage and getting over the fear of failure to try something new for the first time.

What new things have you tried lately? This month I took pickleball lessons and started playing for the first time.  I didn’t think I would like it but I found out it’s fun and as Larry says “habit forming” to play.  My wife Mary Ann played today for the first time and she liked it.

Someone suggested I play on the softball team here at our retirement community and I have been reluctant.  Maybe I will give it a try; who knows I may love it. Maybe I will get bonked on the head trying to catch the ball. But that would be something to play softball again, something I never thought I would be doing again.

That’s one good thing about living in an Active Active Community, there are so many activities that you can try. Maybe I should try something that would be challenging and scare me to death, like being in a play or a painting class.

When and if you do try something you never dreamed you would be doing, it is very satisfying and gives you a feeling of confidence.  You begin to feel you can do more than you thought you could do and may even start to see things you never dreamed you could do as possibilities.

Expand your possibilities, like 91-year-old Betty Lindberg who set a world’s record in track (photo at top of page).

Categories
Active Adult Living Del Webb Communities

We Are In This Together

One thing a visitor or a new resident notices in our active adult community, is that everyone waves to each other. Another thing is that people are friendly. Walking into or out of our activities clubhouse, you are likely to be met with a smile and greeting. Attend any of the events in our grand ballroom like concerts, luncheons, cards or whatever and people will exchange introductions and engage in friendly conversations.

You would think we all know each other. With 1140 homes in our community and maybe over 2,000 people living here, we don’t know everybody. But we act like we do.

With people living here coming from all over the country and different parts of the world, why do we get along so well. Why is there such a different attitude from our working lives and our lives in cities and suburbs where we used to live during our working lives.

The difference is that once you enter our gates you are home and the people living here are our neighbors that you know and have the feeling that “we are all in this together”.  Besides being neighbors physically we are on a journey together, living our retired life. Knowing we have all made the journey thus far to get there, at this stage in our lives, to enjoy life.

We are in this together!

We know we all arrived for some of the same reasons. We are looking for and sharing quality of life in a beautiful community where we are enjoying life, even more so than we were a few years ago.

We want to stay physically active and you can see that at the softball games, bocce, pickleball, tennis matches, cardio classes, gym regulars and the many morning walkers along Deaton Creek Parkway.

We want to stay mentally active and you can see that in the conversations with folks who keep themselves informed across the board. We participate in mental activity games, forums, trivia, having experts come to talk with us. We share a passion for life long learning.

We want to travel and see the world so we take cruises, bus tours, regional overnight trips and day trips. We take trips together sometimes. We like new experiences.

We experience health issues commonly experienced at this stage of life, death of a spouse, we come together to support each other in time of need.

We share concerns about our finances, getting a safe return so our money doesn’t run out, sharing tips about social security and veterans benefits, keeping an eye on our HOA budget and attending our investment club.

We live in the present. Although coming here with interesting life long experiences, we want life now to be all it can be and committed to getting everything out of it, while we can.

We socialize together going out to see a play, take turns having the neighbors over for dinner, going to lunch regularly with our neighbors, we make new friends, we host card games at our homes.

We have fun together attending the many activities, the concerts, and many other events. We like to just talk with each other and you can do that as easy as walking out your front door and soon you will be talking with someone.

All of this is quite different from the neighborhoods we moved from, with the busy moms busing the kids around, the neighbors who were not that friendly, everyone rushing off to work.

It’s nice to live a community with people that we relate to and share so much with! No wonder we have the feeling “we are in this together”.

Robert Fowler